SCARY AND STARTLING! Discoveries about history and my family& escape from China.

Elizabeth Tebby Germaine


Region:
South West
Notice Period:
Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
Type:
Professional
Fee:
Free
Category:
History
Updated:
9th September 2023

This talk can be given in person or on Zoom. My Aunt Marian was a young girl of 23 who arrived in China in 1926 and experienced hostility to missionaries and foreigners - I discovered why when I looked at the unbelievably savage history since the 1800's. She witnessed part of the brutal purge of Communists by Chiang Kai Shek's Nationalist Army in Shanghai in 1927. Two letters and a few historic photos led me into the complex history of those years, and her family stayed on in China after many foreigners and Europeans had left during the dangers of the Japanese Invasion through the 1930's. The story of the family's escape from China in 1943 (told to me by my three cousins who were young children then) is startling - they were often very close to danger and arrived in England after six extraordinary months. Old film footage shows a US air base near the ancient walled city of Guilin where they had been living, and thousands of Chinese being evacuated in 1944 as the Japanese could no longer be held back. This story is included in my book - 'Lives in Burma and China 1927 -1951' (but the talk includes material I have discovered since)

Views: 1617 | Enquiries: 7

About Elizabeth Tebby Germaine

TALKS IN PERSON AND ZOOM PRESENTATIONS (donations to charities to support Ukraine) Talks available on Zoom are with Powerpoint slides. ( I can host a meeting if required. I do not charge a fee, donations to a charity would be appreciated (currently supporting in particular The International Committe of the Red Cross and Unicef). A NEW TALK IS AVAILABLE. CHINA in the 1930's through the eyes of a prize winning War Correspondent. Also available are two talks: ‘EXTRACTS FROM ACCOUNTS OF DANGEROUS JOURNEYS IN BURMA WW2 WITH MANY HISTORIC PHOTOS’ and ‘SCARY AND STARTLING – WHAT I DISCOVERED ABOUT CHINA WHEN EXPLORING ACCOUNTS FROM MY FAMILY’. These last two talks relate to my books, extracts of which can be read on www.FeedARead.com and Amazon Kindle, and more details are on www.elizabethtebbygermaine.co.uk. What has always interested me are the human stories told against the backdrop of dramatic and dangerous years in the Far East. I inherited and was later also given significant material and photographs which relate to Burma and China, countries of great interest as we move through the 21st century. With the China talk I have discovered additional material since I wrote the book ‘Lives in Burma and China 1927 -1951’. ANOTHER TALK IS NOW AVAILABLE ON ZOOM (or possibly in person near where I live near Cheltenham, requiring bringing my stage piano) - MEMORABLE MOMENTS FROM THE CLASSICAL PIANO REPERTOIRE. The Zoom talk is from my music studio at home and I play a selection of extracts from famous and interesting piano pieces, with short but striking introductions. I am an experienced performer and have enjoyed putting this programme together. At the end I enjoy asking the audience what they might have included which is likely to cover many other pieces as the repertoire is so enormous! Also what they play themselves and I may mention my 3 books, PIANO BEYOND GRADE 5 which are full of practical ideas and based on many years of teaching experience. (extracts can be read on www.FeedARead,com) Reviews of piano recitals I have done are on www.elizabethtebbygermaine.co.uk

REVIEWS of previous talks

SEPT. 2017 Talk about the Burma books. Thanks to the U3A Travel Group for the warm welcome at the Guildhall Cinema Gloucester, and it was good to hear your stories that connected with Myanmar

From Dave and Sue Wright, joint speaker secretary, U3A Earlsdon, Coventry 'We would like to express our sincere gratitude for your talk on experiences in Burma. It was a fascinating talk regarding a very difficult time in history. It was even more poignant due to your personal involvement with the subject. I am sure it was appreciated by all members present and expanded all our knowledge of Burma and its troubled past and present. Thanks again.'

NOV. 2019 from C.J.Boyd - Probus Club member: “Elizabeth gave us an interesting and informative talk on China in the Second World War, illustrated with helpful maps. Her presentation also provided a valuable insight into the broader history of China in the first half of the 20th Century.”

NOV. 2019 from John Higgins, Newent U3A. "Thanks to Elizabeth for providing an insight into one of the little-known aspects of World War 2, the military and civilian evacuation of Burma following the Japanese invasion. This was all the more poignant due to her family involvement in the arduous escape. Illustrated with plentiful, and probably quite rare, photographs from the time. This was a talk to make many of us reflect on the horrors of that part of our history."

My history talks are illustrated with many striking, historic photos of Burma/Myanmar (and a few from China).


Send a message to the speaker

If you are interested in this talk and wish to contact the speaker, please complete the following form:

 
Please provide your contact name
 
Please provide the name of your group
 
Your phone number so that the speaker can contact you
 
Your email address so that the speaker can contact you
 
Give details about the event, time of day and location
Prove you are human please.
Use the slider to drag the puzzle so that the top and bottom are aligned , or use an alternate text based challenge by clicking here.
What is John's name?
 

Site Search

Search across all speakers, topics and tags. Put your search term in the box and press enter or hit search

Use quotes around exact multiple word searches, eg "winston churchill".